New Orleans mayor: Detroit can come back just like we did

4:40 PM, May 28, 2014

Jackson Square in the French Quarter was among the parts of New Orleans above sea level that weren't much damaged by Hurricane Katrina. But large parts of the city took years to recover. / ERIC SHARP/Detroit Free Press

By Mitchell J. Landrieu

Detroit Free Press guest writer

By Mitchell J. Landrieu

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After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, flooding more than 80% of the city, MSNBC host Chris Matthews asked me, “Why should a guy driving a cab up in Detroit” care about rebuilding New Orleans? I said that an American tragedy requires an American response.

This is the same reason why someone in New Orleans should care about Detroit and its struggles. Only if we remain one nation, indivisible, can we be strong. We need each other.

In half a century, Detroit went from small town to Motown and the Motor City, and in the process helped build the nation we are today. Now we need Detroit to help create the America of tomorrow. After all, who else is going to do it besides us?

There is no greater engine for growth, no greater power for innovation, and no smarter investment to make than in Detroit. Now the struggle of years past is giving way to new opportunities. Last week, JPMorgan Chase announced it was bringing $100 million in investments to Detroit. This is a sign of things to come. Detroit will come back strong.

In New Orleans, we know a thing or two about coming back. Nine years ago, we nearly lost it all when Hurricane Katrina crashed ashore, causing billions of dollars in damages and leaving more than 1,800 dead.

Suddenly, old divisions of race, class and creed did not matter. We were all in the same boat, literally trying to keep our head above water.

For New Orleans, it was a near-death experience, but we survived and persevered. Since then, while holding true to our unique culture, we sought to change our city and become a better version of ourselves.

So in New Orleans after Katrina we took on the toughest of issues, made difficult decisions, and enacted dramatic, but needed reforms. We are remaking every part of our city, from schools and the health care system, to the police department and city hall. We are running toward the fire — tackling tough problems like blight and violent crime.

Now, we are one of the fastest growing cities in America: thousands of new jobs, our schools are improving rapidly, revenues are up, blight is down and murder is at a nearly 30-year low.

It hasn’t been easy, nothing worthwhile ever is. We are not rebuilding back to what we used to be, but instead are creating the city we always wanted to become. Use our experiences in New Orleans since Katrina, both the good and the bad, as a guide. Try to find comfort in this fact: we have been here before.

In fact, even before the struggles of this era, 40 years ago the great New York City teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. At that time, my father, New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu, was president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He, along with Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, led a delegation to Washington to advocate for New York City to receive emergency support from the federal government.

This was a controversial proposal, but, as Denver Mayor William McNichols rightly said at the time, “Every city in the nation is like a tenant in the same building. … If somebody says the third floor is going to collapse, you can’t say that it is not going to bother me because I’m on the second floor.” The same thing can be said today.

So, with grit, determination and help from the American people, New York City came back strong. Now it is almost hard to believe how close America’s largest city and the financial capital of the world came to failure. Can you imagine an America without a strong, thriving New York City?

I know Detroit will show us, too, that it can come back better than before. The spirit of Detroit is unbreakable as the iron forged in its furnaces and factories. Bankruptcy is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. It is just a way station on the road toward a better future. Indeed, failure is not an option — we, as a nation, need Detroit, and Detroit needs us.

Mitchell J. Landrieu is mayor of New Orleans. He is to speak during the Mackinac Policy Conference on Friday at 8:55 a.m. Watch it live at www.freep.com/abettermichigan.